Weekly Season News

CHATHAM, Mass. - The 2018 Cape Cod Baseball League’s Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony took place Saturday at the beautiful Chatham Bars Inn in front of a sold out crowd. The ceremony honored league legends that have made a lasting impact on the CCBL and the game of baseball.

The ceremony was also streamed live for the first time ever, and the full ceremony will be made available to the public via the HERE Boston App in the coming days

This year’s six inductees were the following:

Arthur “Ace” Adams (Falmouth Commodores): The University of Michigan hurler played in the Cape League from 1972-74. He was a League All-Star in ‘73, and pitched 11 complete games – tied for the most complete games in the modern era. Ace enjoyed a 42-year coaching career at the collegiate and professional levels and also served as an assistant coach with the CCBL in Falmouth, Chatham, and Cotuit during that time. In 1992-93 Ace was the field manager for Falmouth, where he coached future CCBL Hall of Famer Darin Erstad. Ace was one of the most colorful characters to play and coach in the Cape League. Ace’s father also played on the Cape and met Ace’s mom at Old Falmouth Heights Field. Ace was presented for induction by his long time friend, NY Yankees scout and Cape League “lifer” Matt Hyde.

Barbara “Mrs. E” Ellsworth (Y-D Red Sox & The Harwich Mariners): Barbara Ellsworth joined the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in 1978. During her 34 years with the Rd Sox, she was President, VP, Housing Coordinator, and GM. She was a CCBL executive board member and coordinated several CCBL All-Star Game festivities, including scout liaison and two Cape League All-Star Teams which played against Team USA. Throughout her years with the Cape League, she hosted 153 players including 12 current and former MLB players. Mrs. E was presented for induction by 2011 Y-D Red Sox player Robert Benincasa. Her son Kent Ellsworth, and two former players that lived with her, Mike Bordick and Jimmy Mulry accepted the award on her behalf.

Peter Gammons (CCBL Friend and Contributor): A renowned American baseball writer and media personality, Gammons has been a key friend of the Cape Cod Baseball League for five decades. He began his career at The Boston Globe in 1969, and covered the Boston Red Sox for many years. His lengthy resume also includes being the lead baseball columnist for Sports Illustrated and The Sporting News, an in-studio analyst and field-level reporter for ESPN, The MLB Network, MLB.com and NESN, and the author of numerous baseball books. Gammons was named the National Baseball Sportswriter of the Year in 1989, 1990, and 1993, and was the recipient of the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2004. Gammons was be dually honored this year, as the newly-created Peter Gammons Award for Excellence and Distinction will be presented for the first time. Gammons was presented for induction by long-time friend and current Executive Vice-President/General Manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks Mike Hazen.

Craig Hansen (Harwich Mariners): The hard-throwing closer from St. John’s played for the Harwich Mariners in 2004 where he posted a 1-1 record with 10 saves and 41 K’s in 22.1 IP, and a perfect 0.00 ERA. He was an East Division All-Star reserve and was named to the 2004 All-League Team. Craig was drafted out of high school in the first round (26th overall) by the Boston Red Sox in 2005, and become the first player in Red Sox history to play a major league game the same year he was drafted. The 6’5” Hansen was known for unleashing a 97-98 mph fastball and a hard slider. Craig was presented for induction by his Harwich Field Manager, Steve Englert.

John Schiffner (Chatham A’s): Schiffner’s Cape League coaching career began in 1978 as an assistant coach for Chatham and scout with Montreal until 1988. He returned to Chatham in 1990 as an assistant under manager Rich Hill until being named manager in 1993. Schiffner has coached and managed close to 1,000 players, including 39 first round draft picks and 125 Major Leaguers, including Evan Longoria, Todd Frazier, Andrew Miller, and Kris Bryant. During his time as coach, Schiffner led Chatham to two CCBL, championships, six Eat titles, 15 playoff appearances, and 541 regular season wins – making him the winningest coach in league history. Schiff was inducted by his long-time head assistant in Chatham, Matt Fincher.

Mark Sweeney (Y-D Red Sox & Chatham A’s): The sweet-swinging Maine player enjoyed three summers on the Cape from 1988-90. Winning playoff MVP honors in ’89, he batted .310 with four homers and 24 RBI in 1990, and led Don Reed’s Y-D Squad to back-to-back CCBL titles in 1989-90. He was the recipient of the CCBLs Sportsmanship Award in 1991 and was later drafted by California. From there Sweeney enjoyed an illustrious professional career, finishing second all-time in MLB pinch hits (175) and first in career pinch-hit RBIs (102). Sweeney is now a baseball correspondent for the San Diego Padres. Mark was be inducted by veteran news personality Dan Rea, a long time friend and self-proclaimed biggest fan.

In addition, three special awards were presented on Saturday to those who have made significant contributions to the Cape Cod Baseball League:

THE PETER GAMMONS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE & DISTINCTION
Christina Taylor-Green: Christina Taylor-Green embodied everything that the CCBL and the Peter Gammons Award for Excellence and Distinction stands for. Her boundless energy and youthful innocence, whether out on the Brewster flats or at Brewster’s Stony Brook Field while shadowing her brother Dallas at the Whitecaps Baseball Clinics, epitomized everything that is good and decent here on Cape Cod. We are all better people thanks to the passion and vision of this young lady who had no idea how many lives she was touching at that time. Christina Taylor-Green was the unanimous choice for the first-ever Peter Gammons Award for Excellence and Distinction. The award was presented by Peter Gammons

THE FRED EBBETT LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Scott Wahle: Boston TV personality Scott Wahle has deep roots in the Cape Cod Baseball League. He started broadcasting games in the summer of 1976 with legendary Boston Bruins play-by-play man Fred Cusick as part of his duties at Orleans radio station WVLC AM/FM. Thirty-five years later, he would return to the broadcast booth for two seasons of Cape League games streaming on WBZ radio in Boston. Scott enjoyed a three-decade career as an on-air television broadcaster. He has covered virtually every major sporting event including the World Series, NBA and Stanly Cup Finals, the Super Bowl, March Madness and the Olympics (Nagano, Japan – 1998). This award was presented by John Garner, the CCBL’s longtime director of public relations and broadcasting, and winner of the 2014 Richard “Dick” Sullivan Executive of the Year Award.

THE RICHARD “DICK” SULLIVAN EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR AWARD:
Chris Thoms: Chris has been part of the Cape League since 1996. Beginning as a scoreboard operator for the Chatham A’s, he became an official scorer in 1999, and league statistician and official scoring supervisor in 2009. His responsibilities include training all official scorers and maintaining the accuracy of all league statistics, rosters, and schedules. His consistently outstanding performance in the shadow of legendary scoring and statistics guru/mentor John Wylde has exceeded all expectations. This award was presented by Paul Galop, Cape Cod Baseball League commissioner and former Chatham A’s officer.

Please contact Ben Brink for more information at 978-609-7238 or ben@sponsorshipstreet.com